Getting there

The garden is doing great. I'm so excited. There are zucchini coming, beans, broccoli just about ready to be picked. The tomatoes are starting to get blossoms. The peppers, I'm not sure about, they are still pretty small. Only time will tell what will happen with them.

I love watering the garden every day. I hand water so I can see how much water the plants are getting and I don't waste the water on the pathways and other areas. Weeds are here and there. Weeding is not my favorite part, but I'm keeping up with it okay.

One challenge for me has been the pathways. I would like to put down landscape fabric, then mulch. I've run out of steam at this point to tackle this though. I remind myself that this is year one and we've come a LONG way. :)

Lars' cantaloupe is growing big, but I don't see evidence of fruit or anything that will be fruit. It is a mystery...hope something edible happens.

 

Broccoli...

Beans...

Spinach, onion, lettuce...

Tomatoes (and peppers in front)...

Corn...

Next will be harvesting and canning or freezing.

Guests, intruders, and friends

Not sure how it happened, but there are plants that have escaped their area and are staying with the neighbors. There are squash plants in my onions and a couple sunflowers in my tomatoes...anyway I think they are sunflowers! And there are ladybugs and deer visiting. Thankfully, the deer haven't eaten anything yet. I hope the ladybugs are eating all they want, because they are suppose to be very good for the garden, eating unwanted pests.

Here's a cute little ladybug on a tomato plant. I've seen them on the potatoes too. Yay!

Here are some deer tracks from last night...going right through the tomatoes! I am not a gambler, but I sure feel like I am really taking my chances because we don't have a fence up yet!! We have some materials, now hubby needs to get it up.

Berries too!

Last year we planted the west end of the garden area with several rows of berries. Blackberries, Raspberries, Strawberries and Gooseberries. All plants survived the winter and we are looking forward to seeing what berries we get this year. Because I've been working on getting the vegetables planted, we have neglected this area somewhat, but the berries are growing!

Can you see the three rows?? Just noticed there are a couple birds on the fence too! They better not get the berries before us!!

How far we've come

Here's a picture of what the land looked like before we started our garden:

 

The Dave borrowed a back hoe from a friend and dug about 15 rows, two feet deep. We took all the dirt that was dug up and sifted it for rocks, then put it back in the rows. We then took dirt we had and  mixed it with peat moss and sand, then filled the rows back up. It was a lot of work!!
We picked out a lot of rocks and weeds!! So we have a pile of dirt, pile of rocks, pile of weeds, pile of sand. This is the necessary part, but drives me crazy because of the 'mess.' The dirt and sand are going back into the garden, the weeds we will bur, and I'm trying to decide what to do with all these rocks!

Here is my newly planted herb ring. I have basil, oregano, thyme and sage right now. Also, planted spearmint in the pot since I read that it is invasive:

Summer arrived!

June 21st was the first day of summer and, just like that, the sun started shining and it's been very nice since. I got all my starts planted and everything is looking good. Here are some current pictures (remember, it's a work in progress!)...

Here's a picture of the garden from the other direction. We don't have the fence up yet, but all the vegetables are still very small, so I am taking my chances. We have materials for the fence, just have to do the work. Looks like it will be 100 ft on each side. I can see that the deer have been walking through, but they probably can't tell the veges from the weeds yet. :)

We made the signs for all the vegetables:

David made me a compost bin:

This is my little greenhouse, it's just 6x8, but big enough for me for now:

Warmth and Progress

This last weekend was beautiful! Warm and sunny, with a slight breeze, couldn't ask for better days. I got out into the garden about 7:30am Saturday. Made a herb bed (circle), widened some  beds, leveled the paths, cleaned up rocks at end of rows, mixed up some dirt, mowed. Whew!
Also took up the mission to pull all the dandelions in the yard, they were really starting to pile up. As of Sunday evening got most of them. It is my mission now to pluck everyone that I see with yellow flowers.

Sunday I planted several seeds; cucumber, zucchini, more corn, beans, lettuce. Feeling much better now. I have several others started; tomatoes, peppers, more corn, onions, but don't want to plant them until there is some sort of fencing up or I fear the deer will eat them the young starts in one walk through.

Cold wet and fenceless

Here it is Wednesday, June 1st and I am no where near where I want to be with the garden. Last weekend was so cold, windy, cloudy and rainy. It was just too cold to get out and get anything more planted. I have gotten the potatoes, corn, squash and spinach planted. The potatoes are coming up and look good - those that are coming up that is - only half are peaking through so far. The corn starts are not looking too good, but I will keep hoping they'll come back when it gets warmer.

Well, the deer have wandered right through the corn and squash. There are a lot of deer around here, which is part of the beauty of living in Montana, but they are a big problem with gardens. It is very clear now that I should not plant anymore until we get the fencing up. I hope we can get the fence up soon, but until then I will just keep babying my plants in the greenhouse.